


A Tentaspy in Vermont

by LitheFider



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Fish out of Water, Gen, Gills, Stranded, Tentacles, Water, Water Monster, Wilderness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-22
Updated: 2014-07-22
Packaged: 2018-02-10 00:34:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2004090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LitheFider/pseuds/LitheFider
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Tentaspy who has been hiding his existence for three years is finally caught.  As he is transported to a different location by BLU he ends up stranded in the New England wilderness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Tentaspy in Vermont

**Author's Note:**

> While in Vermont we went to some pretty gorgeous swimming holes. I jump in with my mask and flippers, and am always really inspired visiting these places as it makes be imagine all the nooks and crannies a water monster would hide in. I decided to write a self-indulgent little ficlet using my OC tentaspy (known as Dominique) exploring him getting to navigate the wilds for the first time. Even wrote it in first person for maximum ‘being there’ feel. If you know my main fic with him know this is total AU from that storyline.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the water monster fun times.

…

 

They had captured me.

Stupid so _stupid_. How could I have been so careless?  


I had sneaked into the BLU base, determined to finally have a working disguise kit. Mine had been broken since I had escaped the chopping block – and that was three years ago.  
  
A respawn tech made a guinea pig out of me, against the knowledge of BLU industries. They were less then pleased when they found what he had done to their Spy, and had tried to dispose of me quickly and quietly so they could get the next willing mercenary into the hot seat to battle their little territory war. They had no need of tentacled monstrosity like myself.  
  
  
However, I had other plans. Namely, not dying.  


BLU thought me dead with how much lead they put in me as I fought back and made my escape.  
  
From that point on I was a ghost in my desert surrounded, oasis-like base known as ‘ _The Well’_. And like a ghost, I was trapped haunting my old stomping grounds. I was unable to leave, for I was so aquatic in my new body that to attempt to traverse too far into the dry lands around the base, or even sneak onto a supply train, would mean my uncertain demise. I had no idea _exactly_ how long I could last on dry land.  
  
So in the extensive waterways of _The_ _Well_ I stayed.  
  
Over those three years, I learned to control my new body to sneak about stealthy as I used to be, if not more so. I grew cocky as I fell into a comfort zone, even though I still did not know the mechanics of how all of me worked or through what bio-engineering I was able to do what I did. I was still breathing, my heart was still beating, that was really all that mattered.  
  
  
I remained unseen…until now.  


_Stupid, so stupid._

The BLU Engineer surprised me; I had misjudged his sleep schedule.  
  
  
There I was in full view as he switched on the shop lights, my clawed hands around a spare disguise kit. On my wrist was the missing Cloak and Dagger, which I had stolen a week prior. I had needed a new one as my old one became water damaged. I had not known it would have put everyone on such a high alert. Equipment was broken and replaced all the time! I had thought things had calmed down by now so I could get the missing piece of my espionage gear I needed to be truly deadly and perhaps escape somehow…  
  
The BLU Heavy and Demo were right behind him. Guns trained on me. I cloaked but it was far too late, they fired and soon had me surrounded. The Admin was notified immediately as their Medic healed my wounds just enough so I wouldn’t bleed out, and before I knew it techs were sent in with tranq guns.  
  
  
I was captured alive. This time it seemed…they had a more vested interest in me.

...  
...

 

When I awoke…my head was spinning, and it wasn’t just from the wearing off sedatives.  
  
  
It felt like the kind of spinning from being jostled about. I was in water though. I took deep breaths, water gushing through my gills thickly. The water was a bit stale, but I was alive. My wounds felt like they had been fully healed. I tried to move but hit an invisible wall as I raised my head. My tentacles were all fairly cramped, unable to outstretch fully. Smooth, plastic was all they could feel. I felt at the clear wall around me. Plexiglass.

I was locked into a small, but thick walled, plexiglas tank. It was three… _maybe_ three and a half feet tall, and seven foot square otherwise. Felt very small for all of my bulk. I usually liked enclosed spaces but…not like this.

I looked down at myself. I was still wearing my shirt and vest. I checked the inner pockets. My balisong and gear was gone.

 _Moving_ , the water was sloshing about. The ground beneath vibrated against my suckers. Suddenly, there was a jostling, and I scrambled to steady myself as my head whacked into the cover on the plexiglass prison. I groaned, more-so a growl, and rubbed my webbed fingers over the sore spot on my head.

We were definitely in motion. The tank hand to be in a van of some sort. They were moving me somewhere. But where? How long had I been out? I could be almost anywhere by now. Maybe they had put me on a plane before this. Who knows. I could see out through the plexiglass, and even in the darkness I could make out that indeed, it seemed like the back of a truck. The tank was chained down securely, and bolted shut with heavy chain through multiple metal loops, all connected to one big padlock.

I huffed indignantly and settled down into my tentacles, this time sure to pad myself from any future bumps in the road. I didn’t want to waste my strength trying to break the thick plexiglass. From my prodding at it with my tentacles it seemed very strong. I didn’t know when my next meal would be…best to save it for when I had better chance to fight back and use that energy.

I rolled over onto my back, rubbing at my face. Nothing worse than not knowing where you were with no escape plan. This was not the position a spy wanted to be in.

I tried to get some sleep, but falling asleep in a cramped, stale tank in the back of a moving van was not helping that endeavor.   Half asleep but not really, I laid there, mulling over what would become of me as I listened to the rumble of the van’s drive train reverberating through the water.

Some indeterminate time later, I was jolted to alertness as there was a sudden screeching of brakes, honking, and a _SWERVE_.  
  
  
The water sloshed violently, taking me with it. My body piled up against one of the walls like throwing a clump of wet spaghetti. I grunted and scrambled to re-right myself, but I was toppled again and felt like I was being tumbled in ocean surf as everything went end over end over end over end -      
  
  
 ** _CRASH!_**  
  
  
I blacked out momentarily.  
  
  
I could not have been out long as when I came to I was breathing dry air – and all around me was the remains of the van and plexiglass tank. One of the wheels was still spinning and what was left of the driver and guard in the front was…well, about as scattered as the car’s front end and rear axel. I had some cuts, scrapes and places I knew would bruise, but otherwise was okay. My tentacles had cushioned my head. The tank’s seams had given way as the whole thing crashed, making it not matter that the top was still locked. I pushed aside a piece of the tank that was still on me, and took a better look around.  
  
From the sharp hill in front of me and the trail of toppled saplings, it was clear what caused this. The van had careened off a cliff.  
  
There were tall deciduous trees all around. I propped myself up on my hands and tried to pick my tentacles under myself so I could ‘stand’ up. I was wobbly though, walking was a clumsy affair for me as it was, much less while disoriented and weak. I soon flopped back down into a lower stance.  
  
I’d need to find water. The air was warm like the day had been hot, but was cooling with evening now falling. It felt like it would get dewy and damp soon. The dampness would give me more time but my lungs would still dry out in the coming minutes. I could breathe air but…not well. In conditions like this…maybe 20 minutes tops before I’d be heaving like a beached fish.  
  
But before I could embark I wanted to salvage what I could.  
  
I growled softly as I moved. Ug, stiff, both from the crash and being cramped in that small tank. I poked about the wreckage on my hands and tentacles. I found a briefcase that must have been in the front. It was still closed. I tried the latch, it was not locked. Inside were my missing belongings. They must have been taken with for intel. My balisong and cloaking watch / faulty disguise kit. Thankfully it was the newer watch; that could be of real use. I put on the watch and pocketed the other items.

I no longer had my water flask…but thankfully one of the drivers seemed to have had a can of soda. I picked it up, but it had been punctured in the accident. Near the top though, so it would still hold _some_ water. Any kind of security water while out on land would extend my ability to keep breathing air…    
  
I was able to save some of the tank water that was still pooled in a not upended corner of the broken pieces.

Soda can secured in the grasp of a tentacle, I took one last deep inhale of what water was left in the tank remains and made some distance between myself and the wreckage. The odor of leaking gas and burnt rubber was messing with my sense of smell. I needed to be sensing water, not those things. 

When I’d crawled enough into the woods I raised my head.  
  
I smelled at the air, my senses were overwhelmed with the richness of the forest. I’d never been outside the waterways of my old base. The animalistic instincts I has gained in this altered form were something I had learned to mostly quiet and deal with. But now they were sparked all over again and I had to concentrate more than usual.  
  
There was a snap behind me. I growled and quickly whirled around, fangs bared. A squirrel bounded off into the underbrush out of reach. Everything spun as I trembled and tried to regain my focus.  
  
  
Clam down, you need to save your energy…

Where the hell was I? I’d not been anywhere in America except for the west and New York City. Forests like this were all over the country. I knew I had to keep moving but I didn’t know what direction to go. If I went the wrong way I’d be fucked.  
  
Well, water goes to the lowest point. If I tried to go downhill...

I kept crawling fast as I could, sometimes on ‘all fours’, and other times propped up when there were big things in the way like downed trees and large rocks. Rocks like a glacier terminal moraine. Covered in moss and scattered everywhere. If I wasn’t in such a frantic search to find water I’d have loved to take in the beauty of the place.  
  
After 30 minutes I was quite exhausted.   I had never had to traverse this far on land before, and certainly not while starving, tired, and without a proper flask of water. It took a lot of energy for me to go anywhere on land as it was. I’d used up half my water supply in the can as I was breathing so hard to try and keep up with my body’s oxygen demands, even with the dampening evening air. I felt like someone breathing through a _straw_. Sure my tentacles were covered in dirt, leaves, and whatever else was littering the forest floor…but their mild discomfort was not what was going to kill me in another 30 minutes if I didn’t find water.  
  
  
I rested for a minute and quieted down my wheezing enough to listen, I held my breath when I thought I heard it –

\- running water.  
  
  
Like the trickle of water over rocks in a creek.    
  
  
I turned my head desperately trying to pinpoint the direction. I felt like a cornered animal, senses all on edge. When I was sure where it was coming from I went fast as I could – tentacles fanning out and pushing off every tree or rock to roll myself forward. As I drew nearer the sound was more and more apparent. I stumbled as I grew more desperate. I inhaled the last of the water I had and tossed the can away, hoping it would be enough to get me there.  
  
I could see it now through the trees. Oh god I was so tired though...I felt like someone having an asthma attack with no inhaler. The world was spinning again.  
  
I picked myself up and was basically dragging myself at that point, claws digging into the ground.  
  
  
 _‘Come’on Domi – just imagine how nice it will feel – cold clean creek water. Don’t let yourself die here like this when you came so far – fuck. You finally get outta that base and you are gonna fucking die. You shithead you can’t do that, I’ll never forgive you. ’  
  
_  
I clawed my way to the edge of the stream, wheezing and gasping. I could feel my gills flapping under my shirt with each useless breath. Large rocks rimmed the waterway. It looked like this was the top of a waterfall, with a sizeable pool below. But all I cared about in the next 30 seconds was making it to the smaller pool directly in front of me.  
  
  
I felt like I was going to black out. I WAS blacking out.  
  
I used the last of my energy and gave a final push with my tentacles and tumbled down the rocks, which where mercifully smooth for the most part, and made it into the pool there in the stream bed.  
  
  
I didn’t mind the cold shock of the water as it enveloped me and I sank into the shallow two feet of its depth. It felt like _heaven_. My tentacles all slipped into the water and coiled into the outcropping of rocks, letting the gentle current run over them in a flurry of sensory feedback. I let my head settle to the bottom so I was looking up to the rippled surface. I felt that cold rush into my strangled lungs and out through my parched gills. I lay gasping and catching my breath, delirious with joy at how good it felt. That 45-some minutes away from water had felt like an eternity.

When I had the energy to move again I rose up from the water like being reborn. I stretched out every limb, giving a groan of relief. I shook the water from my dark hair and then slicked it back, then fell into the water again limply, sitting up in it this time.  
  
I glanced about my surroundings. It was dark now, not pitch dark but…the starts were just starting to come out in the sky. By how many there were there must not have been any large cities nearby. I could see though, I had fairly good night vision.  
  
I crawled to where the water was gushing over a ledge. I looked over it. That’s right - I had seen a minute ago this was a small waterfall that fell into a larger and more inviting pool. It was only about a twelve foot drop down, and the collected water was even larger than your average big backyard swimming pool. The creek did not have a strong current nor was it deep enough to pull me off the ledge, so I gripped my tentacles to the rocks and inspected closer. I considered only a moment as I checked if the water below was deep enough and not full of jagged rocks. It looked fine.    
  
  
I slipped over the edge and _splooshed_ into the larger pool.    
  
Oh yes that was _much_ better.  
  
  
I instantly pulled myself into the deepest part I could find, and delighted in the water pressure and ability to stretch my limbs. It was eight, maybe nine feet deep. The water was so clean and clear – the water of the spring-fed _Well_ base waterways were nice but – this was _wonderful_.     
  
The ground was ‘sandy’ (more like fine gravel) directly by the waterfall but the rest was lined with rounded rocks. My tentacles loved the feel of them. I rolled in the water and darted about with a burst of energy even though I was actually _exhausted_. My delight in the feeling of freedom was brief though, and I settled back into the deep spot.  
  
Something darted out of my way as I rounded the boundary of the pool though–

Fish!  
  
Not especially large, most were only six inches long…but I’d have eaten just about anything at that point, and fish were indeed the prey of choice. I wasn’t even sure what species it was. Trout, carp, bass, hell if I knew right then. It was food.  
  
The little fish didn’t have a chance as my tentacles herded them into my claws and teeth. Instinct took over and I didn’t even stop to think as I devoured just about every fish in the pool, least the ones I found readily. I lost count at number seven. The prideful corner of my brain that I somehow still had was glad no one was there to see me throughout any of this…  
  
I flopped into a rock overhang in a deep spot that felt safe and sheltered. I didn’t even take the time to make a cushier nest with leaves or sand – didn’t have the energy. My gills were gradually slowing from pumping hard during my exertion dispatching all that prey. My body was finally acclimating to the water temperature and my skin had stopped tingling from the cold. As I curled up into my tentacles it felt more like a blanket then a chill.  
  
  
I promptly passed out.  
  
  
I didn’t know where I was but, I was alive.  
  
For today, yes, still alive.  
  
...  
  
...

...

**Author's Note:**

> The place Domi finds in this first part is known as 'Buttermilk Falls' which is in Ludlow VT. There are multiple tiers of small falls and pools, but here is a video clip I found of the exact pool I had in mind (also pictured above, also not my photo, I did not bring my camera to that specific pool) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPXf-B6Vjr8 . And yes the water is quite cool, haha. Though a tentaspy can tolerate that a lot better then a person.


End file.
